Sammy Watkins is 'frustrated' with not getting the ball in Rams offense

Anyone who’s watched the Los Angeles Rams play this season can see that Sammy Watkins hasn’t exactly been a focal point of the offense. He has 14 catches for 211 yards and two touchdowns on the year, most of which came in Week 3 against the San Francisco 49ers.

His involvement the past two weeks has been especially reduced, only seeing six passes come his way. He caught one of those passes for just 17 yards, leading to some frustration on his part.

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After the Rams’ loss on Sunday, Watkins took to Twitter to voice his concerns, replying to tweets from Torry Holt and L.A. fans saying he needs to get the ball more. Sean McVay was forced to address the situation, but Watkins admitted his frustration after practice on Wednesday.

“As a player, of course, you know, you’re frustrated,” Watkins said via ESPN. “I don’t know a player or a wide receiver who would not be frustrated through the game if you’re not getting the ball. But that’s the game. And each week, it can change.”

Does he think it’s going to change?

“I don’t know,” he said of whether his role will increase.

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Clearly, Watkins’ tenure in Los Angeles hasn’t gotten off to a great start. If you exclude his game against the 49ers, he has just eight catches for 105 yards on the season. For a supposed No. 1 receiver, that’s clearly not good production.

It’s not entirely Watkins’ fault, however. A whopping 108 players in the NFL have been targeted more than Watkins (20) this season, including 38 running backs and tight ends. That falls on both Goff and Watkins, considering one has to get open in order for the other to throw him the ball.

It’s still a work in progress with Watkins admitting he’s confused sometimes by the coverages opposing defenses are showing him, but he has the playbook “down.”

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“Sometimes they do something totally opposite to what we’re looking for,” Watkins said. “So, for me it’s just to continue to go out there, play hard. I’m happy, I’m healthy, and my goal is just to put everything on film and just continue to stack up wins and win games.”

With Goff not targeting Watkins all that often this season, many of his throws have gone in the direction of Robert Woods, Todd Gurley and Cooper Kupp. He’s done a great job of spreading the ball around with four players having more than 200 yards receiving, but that doesn’t always bode well for a No. 1 receiver when he’s fifth in targets.

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Goff is confident he and Watkins will get on the same page, but he’s not going to change the way he plays to get the big-play receiver involved more.

“I think Sammy is a really important part of our offense,” Goff said. “We’ve obviously chatted about the game and what not. He’s a really important part of our offense and a guy that we do what to get the football to, but by no means do I want to change the way I approach each play and think of it any differently.

“He’s a really good dude and a guy that cares about the team and is very unselfish. I think he’s going to come out of this on the right side.”

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